The present invention relates in general to semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to high efficiency, high voltage boost regulators.
Electric utility companies are requiring electrical equipment manufacturers to increase efficiency by controlling the manner in which the equipment loads the alternating current (AC) voltage signal provided at the power mains. For example, in some regions, systems that consume at least fifty watts of power are required to utilize power factor correction (PFC) circuitry to ensure that current is drawn over an entire cycle of the AC voltage signal rather than only at the voltage peaks. PFC circuits essentially control the relationship between the input voltage and the current load of a system to distribute the current load evenly throughout a cycle. In effect, PFC circuits maintain an in-phase relationship between the system""s load current and the AC mains voltage.
However, existing PFC circuits suffer from a high component count, which results in both a high system cost and a large physical size needed for housing the PFC circuits.
Hence, there is a need for a power supply that includes PFC circuitry with fewer components to reduce the cost and size of the power supply.